Jerad Meriweather, 13: Parents Blame Bullying for Suicide

” Vibrant”, “prolific writer”, “brilliant mind”. These are just some of the accolades bestowed upon 13-year-old Jerad Meriweather, who committed suicide Friday, January 18th.The dual dilemma of bullying and bully-related suicides amongst teens is not going away. Far from it. We’re actually seeing an acceleration of incidences where bullying has been named as the root cause, or at the very least a contributor, to another teen ending his or her young life. It’s a runaway train of a broken record. Worse, the “officials” responses and handling of these cases are both irresponsible and mind-numbingly repetitive.

“There is no record of ______ ever being bullied”.

“Our records show that bullying was not involved in this case.”

Clearly, I could go on and on with the typical responses we hear time and time again. Meanwhile, we’re seeing case after case of another teen’s life cut short, by their own hand, in which families and friends name bullying as the culprit. What concerns me is that we are continuing to allow them to get away with being irresponsible in the handling of these cases.

Jerad had a circle of close friends whom he cared about deeply and was known to take on their pain and troubles as if they were his own.

Here’s what we know about bullying cases: there’s rarely a “record on file” of it because these young people are afraid and/or reluctant to come forward with it. They’re told over and over to “talk to someone”, to “tell a trusted adult”, “talk to your counselor”, all good things, to be sure. However, what experience teaches them is that even if they do report it, typically one of these three things will happen:

Reporting it will only lead to more bullying, of at a heightened level of intensity;

THEY get labeled the problem, the troublemaker, as if it’s theirfault that someone else lacks so badly in self-control and self-esteem that they have to find others to pick on…typically someone they perceive to be weaker than themselves;

Nothing. Nothing at all. I hear over and over and over ad nauseam about cases where the bullied reported it to “the responsible adult” only to have nothing done about it at all. I guess the solace we could find here is that at least in the event the worst were to happen, there actually would be something “on record”.

Far too often, families and friends are having to say goodbye to their young loved one because…well…we, as a society, have yet to figure out how to get a firm grip on the bullying and bully-related suicides. We’re failing miserably at coming up with a solid plan-of-action that will reduce the roar of bullying and bully-related suicides to a dull murmur. The cost of that failure is a seemingly endless stream of teen suicides. Teens, like Jerad Meriweather, who, by all accounts, was a shining star in the making. At the same time, we must also work harder to understand another common component in teen, or any, suicide: depression. Did Jerad deal with depression andbullying. Well, that question will remain unanswered for a lifetime. However, according to Gerald, Jerad’s father, his son…

…devoured books and wrote essays that were better than work by adult authors. One essay about depression won Jerad an award at school in October.

Of course, writing an awarding winning essay about it doesn’t mean that he was dealing with it, himself. He could’ve very well been looking at it through the eyes of one of his close friends:

Jerad had a circle of close friends whom he cared about deeply and was known to take on their pain and troubles as if they were his own.

“Passionate” is how Gerald Meriweather described his son. From everything I’ve read about him, “incredible” would have to be added to the many accolades. It’s maddening that we, as adults, cannot figure a way to prevent this from continuing to happen. It’s shattering, to me, to continue to see these young faces appear with the word “suicide” attached. But, it’s heart-wrenching to see that we, as a society and as adults!, we’re still failing so miserably at preventing this to happen. They deserve so much more. They deserve a lifetime.

You’re absolutely right about the connection, Carol. We absolutely must figure out a way to rip off the blinders that far too many people are wearing as it pertains to this epidemic. I was right with you following the Christmas break. I had a queasy feeling that it was too quite for too long. The other shoe has fallen.

Reblogged this on pangirlbrit and commented:
I am so sorry for all these losses, I wish I could do so much more, and I wish that I had a magic wand to stop all the bullying and PAIN AND HURT that these individuals suffer.